Akland runner shines; Negrenses dominate swimming

TACLOBAN CITY—Bacolod City and Negros Occidental swamped the opposition in swimming even as a runner from Aklan bucked a hurting foot to score a come-from-behind win in the 5,000 meters yesterday at the start of the Visayas leg of the POC-PSC Batang Pinoy 2012 here.

Fourteen-year-old Anton Bautista, who was spiked by a competitor as they jostled for position in the eighth lap, seized the lead when the leading runner from Tacloban City stopped, thinking he had already completed 12 ½ rounds at the Leyte Sports Development Center oval, and won in 18 minutes and 42.7 seconds.

Sisters Kyla Isabel and Vanessa Gayle Mabus fueled Bacolod City’s swim romp in the girls’ division while Negros Occidental’s Dustin Marco Ong shone brightest among the boys with four golds halfway through the day’s pool schedule.

Fifteen-year-old Kyla Isabel, from University of St. La Salle, topped  the girls’ 14-15 400-meter freestyle, 200m butterfly and 200m free, while Vanessa Gayle ruled the girls’ 11-12 200m free before joining her sister Remselle Limaco and Gwen Joy Del Carmen in winning the girls’ 15-under 200 freestyle relay.

Limaco, 15, also snared golds in the girls’ 13-15 100-meter free and 200m backstroke.

The 12-year-old Ong struck in the boys’ 11-12 50 and 200-meter fly and the 200 and 400m free.

“My feet hurts,’’ said Bautista in Filipino while showing scratches  caused by spikes after nailing the first gold in athletics in the boys’ 14-15 division.

Palarong Pambansa champion Ailyn Tumbale picked up the gold in the girls’ 13-under long jump with a leap of 4.65m.